Chapter 48
“Fire?!”
“Where?!”
“Where did the fire break out?!”
“District 10, the Plank Street!”
Because the alleys in that area are narrow, the rooftops of the houses are all pressed together, and most of the homes are made of wood—the fire is spreading at an alarming rate!
A knight-in-training shouted,
“At this rate, the entire district could burn down!”
When his urgent report ended, silence fell over the hall.
“Plank Street? That’s…”
“The slums.”
Someone muttered.
District 10. Plank Street. The slums.
‘An anonymous social club ordered reporter Skitter to do a job as a condition for joining their club.’
Skitter, the reporter who had planned to release an article about the actress Rosena to coincide with a fire breaking out in the slums.
Skitter was fired from the Imperial Daily over the incident, but enraged fans of Rosena held a so-called “funeral for journalistic ethics” in front of Skitter’s house for ten days and nights, making it impossible for him to even leave his home for quite some time.
To make matters worse, he never revealed which social club he had colluded with, drawing even more outrage.
‘He probably decided that dealing with an angry public was better than dealing with an angry power-holder.’
So just which social club was it?
People tried to find out, but it wasn’t easy—so many nobles had bought land in that area.
And now, a fire in Plank Street?
Was it really a coincidence?
“Oh, come on. For a moment I thought a major district was on fire.”
“And they interrupt the ball over something like that?”
“What, were they worried someone here might have relatives living in District 10?”
“Anyone here have relatives in Plank Street?”
At a man’s joke, laughter rippled through the crowd.
“What a relief. I thought it was District 2 again, like the Ingrid estate incident.”
“That really was shocking.”
“No matter what, setting a fire in District 2 was reckless of the Saint of Magic.”
“Exactly. So many of us live there…”
“After that, we even built a water channel to draw water into our garden…”
The startled guests soon began chatting among themselves.
Elegantly.
As if nothing had happened.
Sipping strawberry champagne.
‘Were they like this when my house burned down too?’
The thought came to me suddenly, even though it had nothing to do with the moment.
When I was young, when someone’s discarded cigarette set our house on fire.
When my parents died inside, and the flames spread, damaging the entire neighborhood.
When the fire brigade, who should have come to put it out, said they couldn’t come right away because they’d been mobilized for a nobles’ event.
Were the nobles like this back then too?
As I bit my lip, I felt a touch against my fingertips.
It was Arden.
Arden, who had been glaring coldly at the nobles who’d just spoken—as if he’d never been bickering childishly with me earlier—softened his expression when our eyes met.
“Senior.”
I knew what he was about to say.
That we should go help.
I nodded.
“It’s fine. Go quickly.”
I was going to follow anyway.
“I’m sorry. I invited you.”
“What are you talking about? This is an emergency.”
A ball during a fire—seriously?
“Go. Hurry.”
That way I could transform and follow.
As if reading my thoughts, Arden added quickly,
“Over there, there’s more good food besides the peach yogurt granola bread. All snacks you’d like. They’ll be serving strawberry lemon smoothies soon too… And if some weirdo talks to you like earlier, smash his head with a cup. I’ll be back soon.”
“Soon?”
“Before the midnight bell rings twelve times.”
After speaking, Arden looked around.
Among the nobles dancing and drinking, he signaled to several knights—Sir Chase among them—who wore the same expression as him, and then left the ballroom.
Once Arden was gone, I also slipped out of the hall.
After making sure no one was around, I gripped my necklace.
“Money, honor, health… I’ll remember every single person who was here today. Just you wait….”
★★★★★
Saint of Magic, Seraphina!
This is no time to spin around—there’s a fire!
Read the room!
(Hustle, hustle)
Transformation.
★★★★★
“Phew.”
I’d been worried about what would happen if I couldn’t transform twice in one day—thankfully, it worked.
I slung a sack I’d gotten from the cloakroom over my shoulder and slipped out through a side door.
Below the hill where the Imperial Palace stood, I looked down at the carriages and people crowding the city streets.
I’d made it outside, but…
“How do I even get to District 10 from here…?”
“Saint of Magic!”
“Phan-tom-La-dy?!”
Startled, I spun around.
Phantom Lady Plum—the very one who had tucked her tail and disappeared earlier after being shocked by my strength—was standing behind me.
She frowned when she saw the sack on my shoulder.
“What’s with the sack?!”
“It’s nothing! Why are you out here?!”
“Plank Street is my home!”
“Oh!”
No wonder she’d rushed out!
“Follow me! I know a way to get to Plank Street in ten minutes!”
Without giving me time to ask anything, she sprinted down the hill.
Is this for real?! Doubtful, I ran after her.
“Eek!”
We suddenly landed on the roof of a public carriage traveling between districts, making citizens scream.
“Saint of Magic?!”
“Hello?”
I smiled awkwardly and dug into my pocket.
“Uh… do we need to pay the fare?”
I don’t have money right now—should I give star candy or something…?
“Just get on!”
“Saint of Magic! I love you!”
A teenager leaned halfway out the carriage window and shouted at me.
“Marry me!”
“Nope!”
I rejected him flatly and called to the driver.
“We’re in a hurry—could you go faster?!”
“Oh, you girls!”
Wait and see! I’ll get you there in time to even enjoy a cup of coffee!
With that bold reply, the driver suddenly whipped the horses like a madman.
“Ack!”
I almost bit my tongue!
Barely clinging to the carriage roof, I heard the Lady sneer beside me.
“Must be nice traveling with a celebrity.”
“If you’re jealous, become a saint instead of a lady.”
“Shut up and get ready. We’re switching.”
“Switching?”
We’ll transfer to another carriage that turns off under that bridge.
“And after that…”
As she explained, I calculated silently.
‘I only have enough magic left for one more use today.’
Put out the fire in Plank Street.
Rescue anyone who didn’t evacuate in time.
And if there’s a criminal who set the fire deliberately—catch them…
‘All by myself?’
“Phantom Lady.”
“Could you stop emphasizing each syllable like that?”
“Where’s the nearest fire brigade to Plank Street?”
“There isn’t one.”
“There isn’t?”
“There used to be, but no one funded it, so it shut down. The next closest station is thirty minutes away by carriage—so it might as well not exist.”
“Then that means—”
“Even if the imperial knights come to help, there’s not much they can do.”
“……”
“They’ll try to draw water from a nearby stream, but by then, the houses will already be ashes.”
She sneered bitterly.
“Who knows. Maybe if three or four people die in this fire, they’ll finally pay attention.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say something like It’ll be okay to Plum, who spoke so sharply.
I just tightened my grip on my squeaky hammer.
“Mom! Dad!”
The moment we jumped off the carriage, Plum dashed off ahead of me.
I wasn’t even close to the flames yet, but my face already felt hot.
“What do I do now…?”
As I scanned the area with a hardened expression—
“Sena!”
“Cassian!”
Cassian appeared from the direction the Lady had disappeared, his silver hair completely disheveled.
“They said you vanished in the middle of the ball—so this is where you were?”
“Yeah. But more importantly—”
Cassian looked around and whispered,
“There’s no one in the village. Not a single person.”
“No one?”
“Right.”
“How is that possible?”
Even if no one was trying to put out the fire—
There was no way elderly people or children could have all evacuated on their own.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too.”
I nodded, then—
“Wait.”
I pointed my squeaky hammer at a sharp spire rising in the distance.
“Cassian. Why are the lights on in that temple?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the priests forgot to turn them off while evacuating.”
But still…
“I’ll check it out.”
Arden will be bringing people soon—stay here and join them to put out the fire.
As I turned toward the temple, Cassian hurriedly said,
“Wait, I’ll come with—”
“Cassian.”
I spoke sternly.
“Are you good at fighting?”
“No…”
“Then stay here and do what you’re good at.”
“What am I good at?”
“Praying.”
Hold onto this for a bit. I handed him the sack I’d brought and leapt onto a nearby roof.
“Ow—hot!”
I forgot the roof was on fire!
“Aaah! Aaah! Aaah!”
So hot!
Bouncing along almost against my will, I approached the temple.
From a slanted roof, I landed by a round window cut open to look down inside and peered in.
‘One use of magic left today.’
Uh… wait a second.
One use doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough, does it?
